puppetmaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
puppetmaker) wrote2007-07-19 07:58 am
puppetmaker) wrote2007-07-19 07:58 am
What fools these Muggles be...
This is not a spoiler entry for either the book being released Saturday or the film that came out last week. This is about something that has disturbed me about the publishing industry that is being brought into the harsh light of day because of a book, a publisher, and a movie studio.
There is an article in Boston Globe a couple of days ago (OK over a week ago, but I have been rather busy) about a letter that is going out from Warner's legal to various bookstores and other Harry Potter events warning them with legal action if they go ahead with their plans for their book release party. Now when one agrees to sell Harry Potter, one has to sign a rather complicated contract that included the following Please ensure that you keep to our policy: that the book marketing campaign should be separate and distinct from the Warner Bros. film campaign and licensed merchandise programs Short version render to Scholastic what is Scholastic's and to Warner Brothers that which is Warner Brother's.
Once signing the contract you have agreed to use book only promotional material. This is kind of hard since the movie came out last week and most bookstores have a TON of Order of the Phoenix that they need to move now and how better than during the release of the new book. You also can not charge a fee for your event even if the money is going to charity. There were a number of stores that were doing events in association with other merchants of Harry Potter stuff (some of it licensed and some of it not) which have decided not to go ahead with their events.
I can understand from the licensing point of view why they (being Warner Brothers and Scholastic) are being so heavy handed. To hold onto to trademarks and copyright, they have to be able to prove that they are making sure that they don't let others profit off of their intellectual property. Having watched both my husband and a number of friends lose money due to the actions of others, I really can sympathies.
But the people who are being screwed over in this legal paper storm are not the big chain stores who have the resources and the money to make Potter Parties but the small local bookseller. And there in is my problem with this draconian policy. It was the independents that first promoted Potter. It was the independents that saw the potential for Potter Parties and promotion. Harry Potter did not become an instant success that some think it did. It was hand selling by booksellers that turned into a word of mouth campaign that turned into a phenomenon. These same people are being told that they really no longer matter in the grand scheme of things which is really sad. Since there would be no movies if it had not been for the independent bookshop. Scholastic would not be making money hand over fist on these books. Warner Brothers would not be seeing the profits that they have been seeing from the films which have taken in almost more money than the entire Bond franchise.
And it is not like any bookstore is making a ton of money off of this book. If anything many stores are going to lose money because of the deep discounts that the books are being sold at. They are looking at this book of a way to get someone into the store in hopes that they will buy something besides the last Hogwarts book and many will. If they had made a few more dollars on Saturday, would that have been such a bad thing? Independent bookstores are a rare breed these days. Why shut them down and lose the very thing that promoted this book to prominence in the first place? The publisher and the movie studios need the independent booksellers. If they all go away, who is going to help them create the next Harry Potter?
I am grateful that I will not be camping out at midnight for the book but will be getting it probably on the way to vacation.
There is an article in Boston Globe a couple of days ago (OK over a week ago, but I have been rather busy) about a letter that is going out from Warner's legal to various bookstores and other Harry Potter events warning them with legal action if they go ahead with their plans for their book release party. Now when one agrees to sell Harry Potter, one has to sign a rather complicated contract that included the following Please ensure that you keep to our policy: that the book marketing campaign should be separate and distinct from the Warner Bros. film campaign and licensed merchandise programs Short version render to Scholastic what is Scholastic's and to Warner Brothers that which is Warner Brother's.
Once signing the contract you have agreed to use book only promotional material. This is kind of hard since the movie came out last week and most bookstores have a TON of Order of the Phoenix that they need to move now and how better than during the release of the new book. You also can not charge a fee for your event even if the money is going to charity. There were a number of stores that were doing events in association with other merchants of Harry Potter stuff (some of it licensed and some of it not) which have decided not to go ahead with their events.
I can understand from the licensing point of view why they (being Warner Brothers and Scholastic) are being so heavy handed. To hold onto to trademarks and copyright, they have to be able to prove that they are making sure that they don't let others profit off of their intellectual property. Having watched both my husband and a number of friends lose money due to the actions of others, I really can sympathies.
But the people who are being screwed over in this legal paper storm are not the big chain stores who have the resources and the money to make Potter Parties but the small local bookseller. And there in is my problem with this draconian policy. It was the independents that first promoted Potter. It was the independents that saw the potential for Potter Parties and promotion. Harry Potter did not become an instant success that some think it did. It was hand selling by booksellers that turned into a word of mouth campaign that turned into a phenomenon. These same people are being told that they really no longer matter in the grand scheme of things which is really sad. Since there would be no movies if it had not been for the independent bookshop. Scholastic would not be making money hand over fist on these books. Warner Brothers would not be seeing the profits that they have been seeing from the films which have taken in almost more money than the entire Bond franchise.
And it is not like any bookstore is making a ton of money off of this book. If anything many stores are going to lose money because of the deep discounts that the books are being sold at. They are looking at this book of a way to get someone into the store in hopes that they will buy something besides the last Hogwarts book and many will. If they had made a few more dollars on Saturday, would that have been such a bad thing? Independent bookstores are a rare breed these days. Why shut them down and lose the very thing that promoted this book to prominence in the first place? The publisher and the movie studios need the independent booksellers. If they all go away, who is going to help them create the next Harry Potter?
I am grateful that I will not be camping out at midnight for the book but will be getting it probably on the way to vacation.
no subject
In the video game industry the fears of a cross-polination between products from competing vendors -- like Scholastic and Warners in this case -- just wouldn't happen. Gamers are extremely focused, and the ones who turn out for a midnight launch want their game and nothing but their game. Take the time to talk to them about anything else -- like the matching strat guide -- is a waste of time. First, he's not going to buy it, not if he has to have his game at midnight. Second, he's so focused on getting the game -- like a junkie in search of his fix -- that he's simply not hearing you. And third, gamers feel like they don't need the ancillary products.
So, I've fought the midnight launch battles as a retailer. When you win, you win big. Truthfully, though? I'm glad I don't have to go through that crap anymore.
Now, for the precise situation of Warners and Scholastic want to keep their stuff separate, thinking like a store manager....
The margin on Deathly Hollows... what margin? Bookstores are going to want to sell something that actually earns them a profit, yes?
So, I'd set my displays of the Deathly Hollows at the front of the store. And then run my register line around the back of the store. And in the back of the store? That's where I have my Order of the Phoenix tie-in displays, and if the register line happens to go past several Phoenix displays then I'll chalk that up to a coinkeydink. The two displays aren't anywhere near one another, never the twains shall meet, etc., but if the customers, while waiting in line happen to pick up an Order of the Phoenix product who am I to argue? Because I'm earning margin on that -- be it calendar, bookmark, coloring book -- and earning nothing on Deathly Hollows. The customers are going to cross-polinate between the two whether the parent companies want it or not. So I'd take advantage of the situation in a way that adheres to the letter of the agreements and violates the spirit seven ways to Sunday.
It's the cutthroat businessman in me. I spent so long thinking margin and wringing the last penny out of the customer that it comes naturally. No, there are things I'm not supposed to do, things I can't even admit to, but I'm a creative guy and I'll find a way to game the system to my advantage. That's just me.
And don't think I haven't done it. ;)
no subject
Good Luck and I wish you a lot of that cross pollination.
no subject
It is engrained in me, though, as I've thought that way for so long. (Which is why I can't go in an EB Games or a GameStop anymore; I still critique the stores too much to get any shopping done.)